GlobeMed at Columbia University

GlobeMed aims to strengthen the movement for global health equity by empowering students and communities to work together to improve the health of people living in poverty around the world. GlobeMed is an international community of students and grassroots organizations who form long-term partnerships, the heart of GlobeMed's model. Together, the chapter and partner organization implement specific health and development projects, communicating on every aspect from initial design to monitoring and evaluation. In just four years, GlobeMed established chapters at 46 universities across the United States, inspiring thousands of students to become lifelong advocates for global health equity. W...

Board of Directors

Sophie Rothman, Jayati Verma, Mariko Kanai

Project Leaders

Ricardo de Luca e Tuma

Mission

GlobeMed aims to strengthen the movement for global health equity by empowering students and communities to work together to improve the health of people living in poverty around the world. GlobeMed is an international community of students and grassroots organizations who form long-term partnerships, the heart of GlobeMed's model. Together, the chapter and partner organization implement specific health and development projects, communicating on every aspect from initial design to monitoring and evaluation. In just four years, GlobeMed established chapters at 46 universities across the United States, inspiring thousands of students to become lifelong advocates for global health equity. We completed projects in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, consisting of everything from water and sanitation initiatives in Nepal to mental health support in Peru.
To fund such projects, chapters plan a variety of fundraising events and individual giving campaigns throughout the academic year. Chapters also host a number of educational events such as speaker panels, film screenings, and roundtable discussions to further student awareness of global health.
GlobeMed's National Office, headquartered in Evanston, IL, provides ongoing support with regard to these projects; in addition, they help GlobeMed students become passionate, capable leaders. The National Office organizes national and regional events to build the GlobeMed community, develop leadership skills, and facilitate best practice sharing for our international projects. Moreover, the National Office provides a global health curriculum that chapters teach their members throughout the academic year. Through this curriculum, students develop critical thinking skills, discern their roles in global health and poverty, and form the academic foundation necessary to serve as effective partners.
Our values serve as a basis for every aspect of our work today. We envision a more just, equitable world in which health is a universal human right. Access to health must be realized through every facet of society, from effectual public systems to proper living conditions. Under the broader scope of this vision, we have defined various core values that guide our day-to-day work. We believe in social justice, pragmatic solidarity, and the value of meaningful human relationships as catalysts for change.
Our belief in global health equity translates to a tangible set of goals. Mainly, we wish to expand the global health movement among students worldwide. In addition to strengthening our existing partnerships, we are taking steps to make more meaningful and impactful connections in more areas across the world. We will establish 75 chapters by 2015. In doing so, we hope to develop a robust global health community of change-makers, thinkers, and leaders focused on taking action. We also hope to dispel the myth that students are ineffective actors in the fight for poverty alleviation through our engagement and mutually reinforcing empowerment. Instead, we see young people as powerful assets to the international development and health communities. By training students, we are creating a pipeline leadership for global health that consists of compassionate individuals from a variety of backgrounds and interests. These leaders will know how to mobilize resources, work humbly with others, and effect concrete change with an unwavering commitment to fight injustice.

Programs

GlobeMed at Columbia University partners with Gulu Women's Economic Development and Globalization (GWED-G), a grassroots women's rights organization in Gulu, Uganda. Since 2009, we have raised $21,606.73 to fund economic empowerment, HIV/AIDS, and maternal health programs to benefit approximately 4,000 people in Northern Uganda. Although students intern in the field with GWED-G for one month every year, GWED-G staff implement all projects with local health workers and expertise. We are honored to work with GWED-G, and have formed a high-functioning partnership based on consistent communication and genuine investment in our work.
Combating HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest challenges in Northern Uganda. Currently 6.7% of the Ugandan population is infected with the disease, which includes 631,000 women. GWED-G views the treatment of and outreach to women and youth the Gulu district as a pragmatic way to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in their communities. The economic barriers of poverty combined with the social issues of stigma against HIV create a complex, challenging environment to successfully combat the disease.
Last year, we implemented a multi-part intervention in partnership with GWED-G to address HIV in Northern Uganda. First, we launched a major HIV education and prevention campaign, consisting of activities such as youth workshops, condom distribution, and destigmatization programs. Second, we offered testing outreach to rural areas where health facilities are lacking. This involved voluntary testing for individuals and couples. Finally, we supported 30 HIV-positive mothers (or women of childbearing age) who accessed counseling services on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), antenatal care, and maternal nutrition. These women also received clean birth kits and supplies for an income-generating farming project.
After monitoring and evaluating this project, GWED-G explained that the need for HIV prevention is still extremely high for people in the region. They identified the successful aspects of our programs, as well as areas in need of improvement. Thus, we have decided to build upon the existing systems we implemented last year, and will enter a second phase of this initiative to be completed over the course of an additional year.
We are aiming to raise at least $12,500 to scale up and expand our HIV/AIDS programs by May 2012. Once again, the project will contain three parts. First, we will strengthen the education and prevention interventions from the first phase, with the goal of increasing awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS. This will involve the creation of four youth clubs to learn about reproductive health, integrated family support for PMTCT, and routine testing and counseling. Second, GWED-G will launch programs to engage men and boys in family planning, HIV prevention, and PMTCT. This will entail the creation of Positive Men's Unions, supportive networks to empower male allies. Third, GWED-G will strengthen health workers' abilities to address HIV prevention, conduct home visits, and monitor and evaluate programs. This will occur through training and the creation of a new space dedicated to counseling in the GWED-G office.
Lastly, our chapter facilitates a separate project in which we sell hand-made Ugandan crafts such as necklaces, bracelets, and purses to people in the New York area. Proceeds from these crafts directly benefit the ten Ugandan women and men that made them, and grant them increased access to education, nutritious food, and safer housing.
In the past, we have hosted a number of fundraising events, and will continue to do so during 2011-2012. Our events last year ranged from a benefit dinner with Doctors Without Borders to collaborations with Student Global AIDS Campaign and Pinkberry. While we will actively fundraise on campus, the majority of our funding comes from individual donations. Our chapter will not be able to achieve our fundraising goals without a strong online giving strategy, and we know that Global Giving will help us reach or even surpass our goals for this year. $21,522 will enable us to reach more individuals and communities in Northern Uganda, and drive our work forward to a greater scale than ever before.

WARNING: Javascript is currently disabled or is not available in your browser. GlobalGiving makes extensive use of Javascript and will not function properly with Javascript disabled. Please enable Javascript and refresh this page.